MATCH QUILT

Match Quilt has been featured at Unpub 6! Build a four-by-four sampler quilt of quilt block cards. Blocks earn points for matching fabrics and patterns of neighboring cards.

Overview

Match Quilt is a fun, crafty card game where players build up their own four-by-four sampler quilts using the quilt blocks in the card deck. Players figure out how to score the most points with the materials they have on hand.

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Quilt block cards earn points for matching fabrics and difficulty level to the existing cards in the row and column where the new card was played. Final scoring also rewards an even distribution of colors and patterns and largest set. The advanced mode brings in special card effects like one-time actions and ongoing abilities to make choices even more interesting for the quilters. Make it sew!

Components and Setup

Match Quilt is a card game at heart. In total, the game will contain the following components:

72 quilt block cards (12 different patterns with 6 copies in different fabrics)

4 player reference cards (player turn with scoring on one side, bonus categories and list of pattern names on the other)

1 scoreboard and 4 colored pawns/buttons for scorekeeping

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To start the game, deal out four quilt block cards to each player, and put the remaining cards face down in the center of the play area to form the draw deck. Four cards is the default hand size. Place all pawns on the zero space of the scoreboard, and give each player a reference card.

Take the top four cards from the draw deck and place them side-by-side face up next to the draw deck to form the craft room stash. If a discard pile forms, it will do so on the opposite side of the draw deck from the stash.

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​The player who has most recently completed a craft project will start the game, unless the group has a house-rules method for determining start player.

During a Turn

A player's turn consists of three phases, described in more detail below:

Play Phase: choose a card from your hand to play onto an open spot on your quilt.

Score Phase: earn points for matching level and fabrics to cards in the row and column.

Draw Phase: draw back up to your hand size and play continues clockwise.

On the first turn of the game, the active player chooses a card from their hand and plays it as the bottom left corner of their quilt, which will eventually be four cards wide and four cards high. This first card does not score points.

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On future turns, the active player can play a card into any open slot that is connected to existing cards in the quilt, and columns of the quilt must be formed from the bottom upwards. If the new card is played above an existing card, it covers up the special text.

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Cards have the following characteristics: the proper name that describes the overall pattern of the quilt block; the ``difficulty level'' of the pattern, i.e. the grid size needed to make the pattern out of triangles and squares, either 3, 4, or 5; the colorful fabrics that make up the quilt block, and special text for each pattern. NOTE: If this is anyone's first time playing Match Quilt, ignore the special text on the cards. This text refers to one-time effects and special abilities of the cards for the full/advanced game.

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Score Phase: The card that was added to the quilt in the Play Phase is considered the ``new card,'' and all previously-played cards in the quilt are considered ``old cards.'' Points are scored for two categories during the base game:

For every old card in the row and column where the new card was played that matches difficulty level with the new card (3, 4, or 5), score one point.

For every old card in the row and column where the new card was played that matches two or more fabrics with the new card, score one point.

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Draw Phase: After the scores have been noted on the score board, the active player draws up to their hand size. In most cases, this is equivalent to drawing one card. They can choose any face-up card in the stash or the top face-down card of the draw deck. As soon as a card in the stash is drawn, the top card of the draw deck is flipped over to replace it.

If all four cards in the stash share the same level or all have two or more colors in common, the active player can choose to discard the entire stash and refill.

If the draw deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to reform the draw deck. If only the stash remains (end of four-player games), players draw one card in this phase until cards in the center are gone. If all cards are gone, skip this phase.

End of Game

When every player has played their sixteenth turn to complete their four-by-four quilt, final scoring bonuses are awarded. There are three bonuses, and it is possible to score anywhere from 0 to 3 bonuses.

Color Balance: if all four fabrics show up in each row and each column of a player's quilt (like numbers in a Sudoku puzzle), that player scores +5 bonus points. It is possible for all players to earn this bonus.

The Collector: players look at the named patterns in their quilt, no matter how they are arranged, and announce which pattern they have the most of, including how many blocks of that pattern they have (e.g. ``four monkey wrenches''). Whichever player has the largest single set (most of one kind) scores +5 bonus points. If there is a tie for largest set, all players in the tie score the full bonus.

Sampler Quilt: players look at the named patterns in their quilt, no matter how they are arranged, and announce how many distinct patterns are in their quilt (maximum 12). The player with the most unique named patterns scores +5 bonus points. If there is a tie, all players in the tie score the full 5 point bonus.

After the final bonuses have been added to the scoreboard, the player with the highest score is declared the quilting champion! In the case of a tie, whoever has more distinct named patterns (sampler quilt) wins. If there is still a tie, the only recourse is a real-world, real-time quilt-off (or... tied players can share the victory).